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The Power of Song: And Other Sephardic Tales
Meet Hanina, the daughter of a Jewish tailor who cures a sultan’s only child by taming a lioness to get her milk. And Nahum Bilbas, the brave rabbi-in-training who dares to confront the great warrior El Cid in order to secure peace for the Jews of Valencia. These and countless other colorful characters will entertain and intrigue you in this delightful collection that contains lessons, truths, surprises, and happy endings.
When the Jews fled the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 and scattered all over Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, they took with them the folktales that were an integral part of their heritage. As they settled into their new homelands, they borrowed many of the literary devices and motifs from their adopted countries, adding varied flavor to the traditional Jewish stories.
For ages eight and up, The Power of Song includes a glossary of foreign words, and each story is accompanied by a short commentary on its origin and meaning. The author's introduction gives special attention to the history of Jewish folktales and specifically those of the Sephardic Jews.
When the Jews fled the Iberian Peninsula in 1492 and scattered all over Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, they took with them the folktales that were an integral part of their heritage. As they settled into their new homelands, they borrowed many of the literary devices and motifs from their adopted countries, adding varied flavor to the traditional Jewish stories.
For ages eight and up, The Power of Song includes a glossary of foreign words, and each story is accompanied by a short commentary on its origin and meaning. The author's introduction gives special attention to the history of Jewish folktales and specifically those of the Sephardic Jews.
- GenresJewish
150 pages, Hardcover
First published July 30, 2007
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August 2, 2026
Rating this one a bit generously. Each of the stories has some little problem, but then, that's because folktales/fairytales don't really care about being perfect coherent or logical. Roth also freely admits that she's combining/adjusting the original stories, with a sort of "Author's Note" at the end of each chapter. I understand why she did this—the aforementioned lack of coherence means that folktales work better as starting points for adaptation than anything. But it means that it's less a collection of Sephardic tales than a short story collection inspired by those tales, and I'm left wondering what exactly her sources were like.
In general, this is a bit of an odd book, half a straightforward collection of kid stories, but also with scholarly notes that a child probably wouldn't be interested in. But that information is interesting to me, and a parent reading this to their child could just skip them or summarize them in a way that the kid would understand better.
In general, this is a bit of an odd book, half a straightforward collection of kid stories, but also with scholarly notes that a child probably wouldn't be interested in. But that information is interesting to me, and a parent reading this to their child could just skip them or summarize them in a way that the kid would understand better.
Displaying 1 of 1 review